when to use comparable and comparator

Question

I need to sort on a list of objects so, I wrote a new class that implements Comparator and it works. Then something popped into my head and I started to wonder if I had used Comparable instead of creating the new class to implement a Comparator. 

Can anyone give me a clear idea on when to use comparable and comparator?

Answer 1

A Comparable is used when you are comparing the instances of the same class and a comparator is used when you are comparing instances of different classes.

In case, if you need a different sorting order, then, implement a comparator and define a way of comparing the instances.

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